For the midterm, I was most excited about the creative aspect of the project as a whole: i.e. designing the blog, editing my video, and writing my content. My first endeavor was to create my header as I figured that would be fun and also set the mood and aesthetic for my blog. As we’ve done in class before, I used Pixlr to create a header containing some of my press clips (FYI: I did my blog on my work in PR).
Theme-wise, I chose a clean, professional-looking blog layout that I thought would be stylish enough to engage visitors while also minimal enough to look attractive to potential employers and other PR practitioners. However, having only the free version of the theme proved to be a limitation/challenge as I would have loved to have customized my layout even further. (Maybe I’ll do this in the future though!)
The video, as fun as it was to make, was also a challenge in and of itself as I wanted to make sure it upped the game more than my previous video for this class. Gathering and organizing all the images and clips I wanted to use, as well as selecting effects that made sense and looked seamless in the video, was another challenge, but again, one that was entertaining to execute.
Unlike my screencast video, I did the voiceover for the midterm video after editing the video together. Selecting my music bed was also a lot of fun, though I struggled a bit with the audio levels.
Finally, I found actually writing and organizing my blog content to be fairly simple, intuitive (I’ve blogged before), and fun, as I quite enjoy blogging. I’d never actually blogged before about my work in PR, so it was kind of refreshing to tackle that as being such a personal topic.
Top 5: My Classmates’ Midterm Blogs
Everyone in my class did such a great job with their blogs. In no particular order, here are my favorite midterm blogs from my peers!
The Daily Orbit:
I think this blog is particular great because it’s such an interesting topic. I can also see that the person behind this blog is incredibly passionate about the topic, which makes me more invested as a reader! When a writer cares about what they’re writing about, you can tell, and it makes for a better blogging experience all around. Also, I really love the consistency of the posts on this site; the blogger updates and provides content in a consistent stream, which is very important for a blog in my opinion. Also, you can clearly see from the design alone what the blog is about.
Naturally Curlie:
I think this blog is so positive and empowering. From a feminist standpoint, I really appreciate the blog’s topic, which is to celebrate natural hair and hair diversity. This blog is uplifting in its mission to squash homogenous cultural beauty standards, and I love how passionate and dedicated the writer is to her topic. I also think the blogger did a great job with her video, creating a professional-looking, personalized video that was both informative and fun to watch. I also think the “About” page does a great job highlighting and clarifying the mission of the blog.
Cosmic Drag Race:
Anything pertaining to drag queens is okay with me! This blog is a lot of fun, with a bright, colorful design theme that very much so reflects its topic matter aesthetically. I think the posts are fun but also really quite informative, which is very important for successful blogging. I love how thorough the post discussing what drag is and I actually learned about drag kings, which was cool! Finally, I think the video content was executed very well, particularly in regards to transitions/title cards/captions and overall audio editing.
College Chic:
This blog is beautifully designed. It’s very stylish, clean, pleasant to look at, and reminds me a bit of Tumblr which, aesthetically speaking, is a good thing! You know right away when you access this blog that it’s a personal style blog, and the blogger does an exceptional job in terms of personalizing her content with personal style and outfit photos. The content here is not text heavy but relies on quick information and great photos, which is another great way to blog. Finally, the video posted is incredibly professional-looking with really great editing.
How To Drive Like A Moron:
This blog is pretty much hilarious. The person behind it has a great sense of humor which translates very well to their content. As someone who is personally highly frustrated by idiot drivers, I can relate to a lot of this content, even if the topic isn’t that “heavy” or personal. The best part of this blog in my opinion, however, is the “About” page, which is really, really great in terms of giving me a real sense of who this blogger is, their ideology, and how important this topic truly is to them! This quote from their page stood out to me: “But the one thing that stays the most consistent about bad driving: a belief that your own decisions are more important than anyone else’s. I believe this is what is at the root of most bad driving practices.” This is so true, and really resonated with me! And that connection with a reader is what makes a blog successful.
Conversations on Strategic Presentation 
I can relate with you on how interesting and creative this mid-term felt. I really did not find much challenging and even enjoyed creating my movie as well. After our first video assignment, I realized it was more convenient to make the video and then put my voice over it, like what you did. Also, I noticed we had some of the same blogs in our top 5. I, as well, was able to tell the author of the daily orbit was very passionate about his topic. I even found an interest in how funny the “How to Drive Like a Moron” blog was!
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We have one of the same Top 5 blog which I thought was cool. I like your description of all the blogs you chose and I think that from reading what you had to say about each one, I am interested in visiting some of the ones that you chose. You were elaborate in your explanations which helped me understand the blogs a lot!
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Thanks for incorporating my blog in your top 5 favorite blogs, I am glad you enjoyed it. Every aspect you described about my blog made me feel as though my vision for College Chic really came to life. Naturally Curlie was not a blog I included as a part of my top blogs because I must have not seen the link but after reading your detailed explanation of why you chose it as a part of yours makes me want to check it out!
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Your post came out very nice, as always. You keep things professional and neat looking. You also do a great job at describing each blog. We have three top five blogs in common which I thought was cool. It was interesting to see what other people that liked the same blogs as me had to say. We had similar things to say about the blogs which I think was exactly what the owners wanted. You also had different views which I enjoyed reading. Overall, I think you did a good job at explaining each blog and personal things you took away from them.
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I agree with you that this midterm project was a great outlet for us students to show our creativity as we pretty much had as much freedom as we wanted with creating our blogs. We only had one blog in common but i can see why you chose the other ones as you gave great detailed description to as why you picked them.
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I definitely support your decisions on your top 5 blogs. Each blog you chose has a very different topic, but in a good way. They are informative, inspirational, or even just funny. They are all put together well and have a great design. I also like the way you describe each blog, you write so naturally and fun, perfect for a blog.
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